Palin’s Popularity Declines in Alaska

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may still draw throngs in the Lower 48, but her popularity back home keeps heading south.

A new poll out Monday shows the number of people holding a positive view of Ms. Palin falling to 29% in September, a decline from 39% in mid-June. It had hovered in the 40% range for much of the past 18 months.

Measured another way, the number of Alaskans who hold a negative opinion of her has risen from 49% to 61% since June, according to the survey of registered 692 registered Alaska voters by Anchorage pollster Ivan Moore. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

By contrast, Ms. Palin’s popularity in Alaska stood at a stratospheric 82%, and her negative rating was just 13%, when she first announced she was joining Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential ticket in 2008. Ms. Palin had garnered wide support at the time after taking on the Juneau political establishment on a number of fronts.

Ms. Palin had been weighing whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination next year but opted not to proceed. She was not immediately available for comment.